X-Ray Observations of the Peculiar Cepheid V473 Lyr Identify A Low-mass Companion

Evans, Nancy Remage and Pillitteri, Ignazio and Molnár, László and Szabados, László and Plachy, Emese and Szabó, Róbert (2020) X-Ray Observations of the Peculiar Cepheid V473 Lyr Identify A Low-mass Companion. ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL, 159 (3). ISSN 0004-6256

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Abstract

V473 Lyr is a classical Cepheid that is unique in having substantial amplitude variations with a period of approximately 3.3 yr, thought to be similar to the Blazhko variations in RR Lyrae stars. We obtained an XMM-Newton observation of this star to follow up a previous detection in X-rays. Rather than the X-ray burst and rapid decline near maximum radius seen in δ Cephei itself, the X-ray flux in V473 Lyr remained constant for a third of the pulsation cycle covered by the observation. Thus the X-rays are probably not produced by the changes around the pulsation cycle. The X-ray spectrum is soft (kT = 0.6 keV), with X-ray properties consistent with a young low-mass companion. Previously there was no evidence of a companion in radial velocities or in Gaia and Hipparcos proper motions. While this rules out companions that are very close or very distant, a binary companion at a separation between 30 and 300 au is possible. This is an example of an X-ray observation revealing evidence of a low-mass companion, which is important in completing the mass ratio statistics of binary Cepheids. Furthermore, the detection of a young X-ray bright companion is a further indication that the Cepheid (primary) is a Population I star, even though its pulsation behavior differs from other classical Cepheids.

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